1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an event driven transceiver and, more particularly, to an event recorder carried in a vehicle for transmitting electronic signature data or xe2x80x9cfingerprintsxe2x80x9d and receiving and recording electronic signature data from like equipped vehicles or roadside stations upon the occurrence of an event, such as, for example, an accidental collision or a traffic violation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, law enforcement agencies in certain jurisdictions have resorted to automated surveillance techniques as a method for catching drivers that violate traffic laws. The most notable form of automated surveillance involves placing a traffic camera on a stretch of highway or at stop light intersections aimed to capture an image of a vehicle""s licence plate. The camera shutter is tripped when a vehicle speeds or runs a yellow or red light. The image is stamped with the time, date, speed of the vehicle obtained from radar, and the status of the traffic light if applicable. The image is then mailed to the registered owner of the vehicle along with a traffic citation. This type of automated surveillance system is passive in that it is essentially just a replacement for a police officer staked out at the scene. However, the offending vehicle provides no information or xe2x80x9csignaturexe2x80x9d other than a picture and its licence plate number. Further, it is obviously impractical to provide this type of surveillance system at every intersection or along every stretch of roadway or parking lot.
The above described surveillance system really has no practical application for say, recording the events of a hit and run accident, unless of course the offence occurs at a monitored point. Moreover, a vehicle involved in an accident does not purposely leave any signature of its involvement in the accident. The result is that hit and run accidents occur frequently, particularly in parking lots, where there is no driver in the parked car. Unless there is a witness to the accident willing to speak up or the driver of the offending vehicle leaves a note, there is no accountability for such an accident.
Similarly, many surveillance tasks such as monitoring the weight of trucks or identifying hazardous materials (HAZMATS) carried in the truck prior to entering tunnels or bridges are very intrusive and require that the truck be stopped periodically at highway weigh stations and physically inspected. This is a very time consuming task for law enforcement officers as well as an inconvenience for the drivers.
Therefore what is needed in the art is the ability to automatically verify that a vehicle took part in a specific event apart from an eyewitness as well as a method for authorities to monitor potentially hazardous vehicles on the highways.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an event recorder, such as on a smart card, comprising a transceiver for transmitting and/or receiving signature data upon the occurrence of a triggering event.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a smart card which transmits signature information when interrogated by a monitoring station.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a smart card for carrying in a vehicle which exchanges signature information with a similar device carried in another vehicle when a collision occurs.
According to the present invention, an event recorder for attachment to a machine or vehicle, is provided which can broadcast an encrypted signature, thereby leaving behind an electronic version of a xe2x80x9cfingerprintxe2x80x9d of the machine or vehicle carrying the recorder. The fingerprint, captured by an external data acquisition system, provides a history of events related to the machine or vehicle.
In the preferred embodiment, the event recorder comprises a microcomputer, a memory, and a transceiver, preferably housed in a tamper resistant casing, for example as the casing described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,159,629. All of the necessary hardware components may be housed on a smart-card which is ideal for this purpose. The memory stored signature information about the vehicle such as, for example, the owner""s name, licence plate, vehicle registration, etc. In the case of trucks or even ships, the memory may further contain information relating to the nature of the cargo, the weight, or the size of the vehicle. In a first mode of operation, monitoring stations along the roadways periodically send an interrogation signal, such as when radar detects that the vehicle is speeding. Upon receiving the interrogation signal the smart card transmits the vehicle""s signature information to the monitoring station where it is time and date stamped along with the speed of the vehicle. This data can then be appropriately processed by the authorities. The signature information and/or the interrogation signal may be encrypted to protect the privacy of the driver from bystanders who may intercept the signature signal.
In a second mode of operation, when a sensor detects a sudden or violent acceleration or deceleration, such as occurs during a collision, an event recorder mounted in each car will begin transmitting its signature information and receiving and storing the other vehicle""s signature information. In this mode signature information is automatically exchanged between the vehicles without driver interaction. This is particularly useful when the collision occurs in a parking lot when one of the hit vehicles is typically unattended.